Brake-rigging.



PATENTED JULY 16, 1907.

A. PARKER-SMITH.

BRAKE RIGGING.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.4,1907.

auct'srus PARKER-SMITH, OF NEw'YoRK, N. Y1, ASSIGNOR'TO TL sstaox-linirt's'rnri COMPANY, A CORPORATION'OFINEWYORKL BRAKE-Brooms.

No. 860,320. r

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l. A-t'ocs'rt's PARKER-SMITH, a citi zen of the lfnitedStates of America, and a resident-oi 1 the borough of Manhattan, city,county, and State of New York. have invented certain new and usefullmprovernents in Brake-Rigging. of which the following j is aspecification.

\ly invention relates to brake rigging for railway cars having swivelingtrucks and is designed to relieve said trucks of any twisting or otherstrains which might otherwise be created when the'brakcs are applied.

In the present arrangement of brakes on the ordinary railway car havingswiveling trucks, the dead lever has its fulcrum on the truck. It isevident, therefore,

that the pull of the top rod which transmits the force applied to thebrakes from the piston or hand brake rigging must be withstood by theking pin or plate on which the truck is swiveled to the car. This toprod pull amounts to 2000 pounds or more on the average freight car. Thisforce tends to pull the truck toward the center of the car and crowdsthe king bolt against the inner side of its bearing. Owing to theinclined position of the live and dead levers, this pull is ap plied notto the center of the truck in line with the king bolt, but at a pointabout 20 inches to one side of the middle line of the car. Thisobviously produces a twisting strain on the truck, tending tocgrind theflanges oi the wheels against the rails and to cause the wheels to jumpthe track. This action is aggravated wherever there are breaks in thecontinuity of the rails, such as exist at drawbridges, turntables, frogsand switches. If after the hand brakes are set hard with the presentrig, thereby twisting the wheel flanges hard up against the rails in onedirection, and presenting an unyielding resistance to the truck turningin the opposite direction, the car runs onto a curve, or switch, or.cross-over which requires the truck to twist in the said oppositedirection, something must give, or the wheels will jump the track. Manybrake beams are thus forcibly bent and other parts of brake rigginginjured by this action and many derailments are due to it. I havediscovered that all these difficulties can be avoided and the trucksleft as free to swing when brakes are applied Specification of LettersPatent. Application filed January 4,1907. Serial No- 350339.

car truck. shown in vertical section with my inve that portion of thetruck below the springs, and the ear body moves up and down relativelyto them by movemerit of the springs, it is necessary to make saidiulcruin connection to the car body a flexible one. s

The best form of apparatus embodying my invention or discovery in whichthe feature of automatic adjustment is omitted, at present known to meis illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawings, in which:

are balanced and neutralized one by the other and the resultant straintransmitted to the flexible link 18. 95-

1 practically form a quadrilateral system of jointed link s,

Patented. Jul 16, 1997.} i

v Figure 1 is a conventional representation of am applied thereto, andFig. 2 is a detail plan view parts shown in section. Throughout thedrawings like reierenceiiguresindicate like parts. 1 represents aportion of ai car body the longitudinal sills of which rest upon thebody bolster 2. This is connected to the truck bolster?) the usualarrangement of king bolt or plate, and this truck bolster is supportedby the springsffi n the said plank 4, or other rigid portion of 't'ruframe which as shown is indicated bythesideifba-rs extending under thesand plank 4, and resting on th' ei journal boxes 7, 7 which are ofcourse inoun't e donlthez journals of the wheels 8, 8 I 9, 9, are theusual brake shoes supportedon brake: 7'0 beams 10, 10, the brake shoesand beams being supported by the'swinging hangers 11,11, pivoted in. thebrackets 12,12,011 the sand plank 4f i The braking force is transmittedfrom theliirdinary brake piston or hand brake rigging (notshown)"thl'r'oughthe top 1'0d'13, to-thelive lever '14, througli'the'bottom rod 15, to'the dead lever 16. Theupper"end or fulcrum end of'thedead lever is pivoted tothe" swinging orflexible link 18, which ispivoted to the lug 19, carried by one of the longitudinal sills or otherconvenient portion of the car body. This pivoting, as shown, is done byinserting the pin 20 formed on said lug through one of the holes 22, 22,in the link 18, and retainin the parts in position by the split pin 21,or any other convenient means. I

The operation of myinvention is as follows: The brakes being adjusted byinserting the pin 20 through that one of the holes 22, 22, which willgive the proper amount of travel to the piston of the air brake and thechain of the hand brake, it is evident thatall force transmitted throughthe top rod 13 from the power" fulcrum on the car body, will passthrough the system of jointed links 14, 15, and 10, where all strainsset/up This ,will be withstood by the lug 19 which is fastened to thecar body and all strains will be thus absorbed in the rigid frame of thecar body. As the live lever,

the dead lever, the bottom lever and the 'car body it is evident thatany distortion of said quadrilateral within reasonable limits such aswould be produced by any possible swinging of the truck on curves,cr'omovers, &c., would not meet with any other'resistance' than the merefriction of the joints betwge nthe links. Also, it is evident that the2000 poundpull of the top rod 13, being withstood by an equivalent2000pound' pull of the fulcrum link 18, the king bolt, or plate by'which the truck is pivoted to the car body left in equilibrium and nostrain on the same is created by iany'brake application no matter howheavy.

tlig fhrakes to take up the slack. When the dead lever is fulcrumedon'the truck,'it is necessary for the men to get under the car and overthe wheels in order to make this adjustment. The resultant danger ofbeing hurt by the starting up of the train is considerable, andthe'result is that the brakes are frequently allowed to go withoutadjustment when they need it badly; With the arrangement hereindescribed, the

" operator can stand at the end of the car, and reach in switch wherethe brakeman sets to shift the flexible link 18 in or out and therebyadjust the brakes without going under the car at all. The oonpections ofthe link 18 to the car body and the dM lever being flexible, the.variations in their relative positions produced by the compression andexpansion of the springs 5 and other movements of the truck, do notinterfere with the action of the brake rigging. ,The brakes being onceset, the brake pres-' sure is neither increased nor decreased by anyswiveling action of the truck, however sharp the curve may be over whichit is running. The present tendency to, derailment produced by a heavyapplication of brakes as the train slows up to take a switch orcrossover, or pass on to a drawbridge, is eliminated, as also the sametendency occurring in the making of a flying the hand brake as the carappioaches the switch or cross-over.

- It is evident that various changes could be made in the details ofconstruction illustrated as far as the nature of the flexible connectionis concerned, the character of -tlie attachment to the car body, themeans for adjusting the position of the dead lever, &c., withoutdeparting from the principle of my invention.

intervening between the body of t-he truck and the car body, brake shoessupported from that portion of the truck below the springs. a system ofbrake rigging com: prising a' live" lever, 21 dead lever, ands flexiblefulcrum connection from the dead lever to the car body.

2. In a system oi, railway car brakes, the combination of the car body,a wheeled truck swlvled thereto, springs intervening between the body ofthe truck and the car body, brake shoes supported from that portion ofthe truck below the springs, 21 system of brake rigging comprising-alive lever, a dead lever, and a flexible fulcrum connection. from thedead lever to the car body, said connection being adjustable.

3. In a system of railway car brakes, the combination of the car body,awheeledtruck swlveled thereto, springs intervening between the body ofthe truck and the car body, brake shoes supported from that portion ofthe truck below the springs, a system of brake rigging comprising a livelever, a dead 'T leveF, and a flexible fulcrum connection from the deadlever to the car body, saidconnection being adjustable, the adjustingmeans being located near the end of the car body.

4. in a system of railway car brakes, the combination of the car body, awheel truck siviveied thereto, and a system 0! brake rigging comprisinga live" lever, a dead lever, bottom rod, and an adjustable fulcrumconnectlon from said dead "lever to the car body, the adjusting meansbeing located near the end or. the car body.

In a system ot'rallway car brakes, the combination of the car body, awheel truck swiveled thereto, and a system oi brake rigging comprising alive" iever a dead lever, bottom rod, and an adjustable fulcrumconnection from said dead" lever to the car body, the adjusting meansbeing located nearthe end of the car body, said adjusting means mprisinga pin mounted on the car body and a series of perforations in thetulcrum link adaptedto engage said pin.

Signed at New York, N, Y. this 2d day of January, 1907. l

A. PARKER-SMITH. Witnesses:

T. B. FURMAN,-

M. G. CRAWFORD.

